She didn't exactly team up with those folks "for" this record, per se -- the album collects 18 collaborations spanning the past decade. The mix of situations and years makes for a varied collection, Jones mingling with with likes of OutKast, the Foo Fighters and Herbie Hancock (who's in Nashville this weekend) alike.

"A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries," the singer said of ...Featuring in a statement. "Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together."

Jones pairs up with Nelson on "Baby It's Cold Outside," Parton on "Creepin' In," and with Nashville Americana standouts Rawlings and Welch on the tune "Loretta."

Music City pair Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and sometime Nashvillian Denver Dalley were among the crop of artists that performed to raise funds for the ACLU at the Concert for Equality in Benson, Nebraska on July 31.

Oberst organized the concert in response to a recent legal ordinance passed in the nearby town of Fremont that he and others believe is "intended to force the resident immigrant population to acquire additional paperwork when renting housing or applying for jobs and to legally require landlords and employers to check their tenants' and employees' citizenship status," according to a release. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the town of Fremont, and the Concert for Equality raised funds for their legal fees.

Above is a clip of Welch and Rawlings performing at the event Saturday with assistance from Oberst and others. After the jump is a clip of Desaparecidos' headlining set.Continue reading →

Click to see a photo gallery from Saturday at Bonnaroo, including the Dave Rawlings Machine (this photo: Sanford Myers/The Tennessean).

The Bonnaroo 2010 faithful might've been letting all the sunny fun catch up to them a bit Saturday, as a large percentage of the Dave Rawlings Machine's That Tent crowd stretched supine on blankets or right on the sand to watch and listen.

While the Nashville crew does play acoustic-led music -- acoustic guitars, fiddle, stand-up bass -- they're far from somnolent, layering thick, full harmonies while Rawlings leads with his fingers, quick and tasteful over the frets, his body twisting in that serpentine emoting that he does.

They played some pensive, strummy songs -- "I Hear Them All," which Rawlings wrote with Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor (and which Old Crow fans would recognize from that band's Big Iron World), the lushly harmonied, emotive "Ruby" -- and they spent plenty of time letting loose.

"I wouldn't feel right if we didn't do a little bit of... maybe a Bill Monroe song," Rawlings said from the stage before the band moved into "I'm On My Way Back To the Old Home."

It was clear how much that kind of stuff fires Rawlings up, as he dug his picking hand hard and heavy into the strings, the decibels almost doubling and his head bobbling with a contagious glee. The crowd picked up on it, certainly, howling while he soloed.Continue reading →

Rawlings’ graceful guitar work and harmony vocals have long been a central element in Gillian Welch’s sound. For his debut as Dave Rawlings Machine, he enlisted the aid of Welch and Nashville string band Old Crow Medicine Show, and he recorded at historic RCA Studio B and Woodland Sound Studios.

The resulting nine-song set, A Friend Of A Friend, is up for album of the year at the AMA’s show, set to take place Thursday, Sept. 9 at the Ryman Auditorium. Rawlings also received nods in the top instrumentalist and song of the year (for “Ruby,” written with Welch) categories, and Dave Rawlings Machine is up for duo/group of the year as well.

Rosanne Cash’s The List, an album inspired by a list of essential country songs given her by father Johnny Cash, is a top album nominee, as is Ray Wylie Hubbard’s cumbersomely titled A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C) and Patty Griffin’s Downtown Church, recorded in the sanctuary at Nashville’s Downtown Presbyterian Church.Continue reading →

Click to see a gallery of photos from Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band's Saturday stop at Bridgestone Arena (this photo: Mandy Lunn/The Tennessean).

It's famously customary for Jimmy Buffett -- and some of his diehard fans -- to don swimming trunks at his concerts. Saturday night in Nashville, however, the attire wasn't just festive, it was downright practical.

The carefree rocker and a surprisingly packed house of "Parrotheads" braved the historic flooding of Middle Tennessee for an unflappably fun show at Bridgestone Arena, mere blocks from an overflowing Cumberland River.

"We're a lot more comforting in a natural disaster than an insurance company, I'll tell you that much," Buffett told the crowd early into his set. "I know you'd find a way (here)," he added. "Parrotheads find their way around obstacles."

Certainly, few audiences are as determined to have a good time as Buffett's. Beach balls and banners soared as he kicked off his set with "Nobody From Nowhere," a tune off his new Buffet Hotel album written by local rock songsmiths Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack. Buffett and band glowed almost as brightly as his near-blinding stage lights, trading solos and banter with laid-back charm.Continue reading →

Click to see a gallery of photos from Levon Helm's Ramble at the Ryman (this photo: Mandy Lunn/The Tennessean).

The air at the Ryman can tend to be filled with reverence, but the room flushed particularly thick with it Wednesday as famed drummer, singer and The Band member Levon Helm brought his “Midnight Ramble” back to the Mother Church.

“It’s the Ryman, isn’t it?” Helm Band multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell said a few songs into the roughly three-hour Ramble, breathing deep, scanning the room. His simple declaration of appreciation followed the loud, clear one the Ryman crowd offered at the outset, bandleader Helm earning a boisterous standing ovation before he’d so much as picked up sticks.

Campbell did most of the talking Wednesday, and a parade of talented contributors — Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Jeff Hanna, Sam Bush, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings — handled much of the singing, the dozen-plus-deep band running through a decades-spanning setlist. Tunes from Helm’s more recent, Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt albums mixed with Band favorites and standout songs penned by the famous guests, including Welch’s beguiling “Look At Miss Ohio” and Crowell’s rollicking “Ain’t Living Long Like This.”

“What a privilege to be at the Ramble once again,” mandolin whiz Bush said by way of introduction to “a song I’ve always wanted to play with Mr. Levon”: “Up on Cripple Creek,” a Band tune made famous via Helm’s sturdy, rough-hewn vocal.Continue reading →

Levon Helm, known far and wide as the bombastic rhythmic backbone of The Band as well as an accomplished torchbearer of American roots music in his own right, is returning to Nashville on Wednesday, April 21 for another one of his star-filled Ramble at the Ryman concerts.

Click this image of Levon Helm at the Ryman in 2008 to visit our contest page (photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean).

Famed multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/The Band member Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles are much-revered happenings, and it's not hard to gauge why.

The rock legend's 2008 Ramble here in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium featured contributions from the well-loved likes of Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow and Sam Bush, and was captured for PBS special Levon Helm: Ramble at the Ryman -- watch that night's performance of The Band's "The Weight" after the jump to get a sense of a Ramble's electricity.

Lucky for us, the Ramble at the Ryman is a repeat affair, and another is set for Wednesday, April 21, to kick off at 7:30 p.m. Lucky for you, we're offering a chance to win quite the bounty: a pair of front-row seats to the show. (Tickets run $27.50-$65, and are otherwise available via Ticketmaster or the Ryman box office.)